Fabien Barthez vs Hugo Lloris

[Luke1995]

Thought this was a interesting comparison to make.

Who had the better club and international career ? Who is actually the better goalkeeper ?

Would you pick Barthez in his prime to start over Lloris ?

Not sure how this will go, but both of them played for France teams that had alot of fantastic players in defense and upfront, while the goalkeeping was often considered the weak spot...

 

[paulscholes18]

Barthez has the better career winning the CL and won the PL twice and won both majors with France and was the best keeper we had the years between The Great Dane and VDS.

I would say Bathez was more capable of making spectacular saves but more likely to drop a clanger.

Depends on the defence in front of them, prime Ferdinand and Vidic I would pick Barthez or if it was the chuckle brothers then I would pick Lloris

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Barthez was one of the best keepers in the world, and a world class goalkeeper for a couple of seasons - then obviously it all went a very wrong. Lloris at his best was one of the PL top keepers, but never world class.

Lloris probably had a bit more longevity, but he’s very average now and I wouldn’t want him anywhere near a top half PL team.

 

[SirAF]

Barthez was one of the best keepers in the world, and a world class goalkeeper for a couple of seasons - then obviously it all went a very wrong. Lloris at his best was one of the PL top keepers, but never world class.

Lloris probably had a bit more longevity, but he’s very average now and I wouldn’t want him anywhere near a top half PL team.

I’d agree with this. I really liked Barthez before he started screwing up on a regular basis, what a character!

 

[Guapa]

Both as poor as each other.

 

[FujiVice]

Flying back and forth to France essentially finished him off as a top player. Coming to England with his mind elsewhere is the dumbest thing, considing how on the ball keepers have to be. At his best he was sensational. Way better than Lloris. I always thought he came here thinking United were the best team in Europe and he wouldnt have much to do.

You cant be to bad if you've won everything there is to win. I might have given up in 2001 as well.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Lloris is miles better, not even a contest for me. He’s pretty poor/average now but for a period he was an excellent keeper, all be it prone to the odd error. Barthez was garbage, way too small to be a keeper and made so so many errors for Utd that cost is big time.

 

[2 man midfield]

Barthez was great for a couple of years in the late 90s, but fairly gash afterwards. Lloris has been pretty consistent since his Lyon days. I’d say Lloris if I had to pick one, too many clangers stick in my mind.

 

[charlenefan]

Has to be Lloris, maybe I'm doing Barthez a disservice in regards to his career pre-United but for us he had 1 ok-ish first season, a pretty lousy second with lots of high profile errors and then a 3rd season which by the end of it he'd been dropped for Roy Carroll. Post United I honestly couldn't tell you what he did

Lloris on the other hand has been playing at a pretty consistent level in the PL for 8 years and was very highly rated while playing for Lyon

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Barthez has the better career winning the CL and won the PL twice and won both majors with France and was the best keeper we had the years between The Great Dane and VDS.

I would say Bathez was more capable of making spectacular saves but more likely to drop a clanger.

Depends on the defence in front of them, prime Ferdinand and Vidic I would pick Barthez or if it was the chuckle brothers then I would pick Lloris

This.

Lloris is more consistent and generally reliably faultless. Won WC and one of the top PL keepers but never the best.

 

[Mcking]

Lloris has to be in conversation for the Premier League's most underrated goalkeeper. Excellent shot stopper, good distribution and very agile off the goal line.

 

[Luke1995]

I am somewhat surprised that Tottenham has stuck with Lloris this long

 

[Gio]

Lloris comfortably. He was more reliable and rangy, whereas Barthez had to over-compensate for a lack of height.

 

[Invictus]

Barthez was garbage, way too small to be a keeper and made so so many errors for Utd that cost is big time.

Remarkably, he wasn't all that small for prominent French goalkeepers!

Jean-Luc Ettori: 5'8½"
Alex Thépot: 5'10"
Julien Darui: 5'6"
Grégory Coupet: 5'11"
François Remetter: 5'7
Georges Lamia: 5'6½"
Mickaël Landreau: 6'0"
Joël Bats: 5'10"
Pierre Chayriguès: 5'7"
Dominique Baratelli: 5'9½"

 

[freeurmind]

Barthez for me. Was never commanding but an excellent shot-stopper. Both could suffer from moments of utter madness.

 

[Wayne's World]

Barthez always had his moments of brilliance and madness but he was an outstanding shot stopper. I just never get the same impression Lloris can do the same. I've very rarely seen him produce an brilliant performance in that regard

Also in terms of trophies, there's no contest with Barthez winning far more and be important to most.

 

[Lord SInister]

Lloris at his best vs Barthez at his best, I would take Lloris, simply because he was more composed and reliable. Barthez may be more talented with the ball, but I want a commanding goalie.

Overall career, Barthez is more accomplished.

 

[Sayros]

It's an interesting comparison and topic. I probably would go with Barthez though, pressure never got to him no matter how big the stakes could be, he was ahead of his time in some ways because he was quite skilled with the ball at his feet for a goalkeeper long before it became almost a requirement. They've both had some dumb moments as others pointed out, but you can find that about any great goalkeepers who's played enough games. I thought Lloris was brilliant for France in the world cup, especially against Uruguay and Belgium, but it has to be Barthez for me.

 

[SambaBoy]

It took a while for the general consensus on Lloris to change, he was performing miserably for a considerable period of time before people realised he's not very good anymore. It was most likely because he would still pull of a blinding save every other game.

Barthez never really got a reputation as a reliable, good keeper in his time in England. Watching our past games you realise how many errors he made compared to VDS.

I'd probably pick Lloris as he was good for a number of years.

 

[LiquidSnake]

Remarkably, he wasn't all that small for prominent French goalkeepers!

Jean-Luc Ettori: 5'8½"
Alex Thépot: 5'10"
Julien Darui: 5'6"
Grégory Coupet: 5'11"
François Remetter: 5'7
Georges Lamia: 5'6½"
Mickaël Landreau: 6'0"
Joël Bats: 5'10"
Pierre Chayriguès: 5'7"
Dominique Baratelli: 5'9½"

There's also Bernard Lama, who by our standard seemed like a "big guy" in goal, was something like 6"0.

We always had a weird culture of goalkeepers. When I played, even from the youngest sections, it never has been about having the biggest/athletic guy in goal, and rarely in France you can yourself the question is it better to have someone 5"11 or 6"3 in goal. Seriously before height, I think we value craziness in goal

As for the debate, Barthez IMHO is the best France NT keeper ever. He always delivered when it mattered the most. His club has always been a lot ups and downs (on and off the pitch), even at arguably his best time at Monaco now I can give it to him that when he was on, he really was on. When he was at Marseille/Monaco Bernard Lama was better and when he was at Manchester/Marseille, I feel like Coupet was better... Then Lama smoked some weed, 98 happened then he became for 10 years the iconic GK of the greatest french NT period.

I think Lloris was world class at Lyon, then I didn't follow Tottenham enough when he arrived but the years passing I saw a lot and a lot more of blunders.

So I don't know who is the best, but I'm pretty sure if I was a coach I wouldn't chose either of those two

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

If it's Barthez's whole career vs Lloris's to date I'd go Barthez, but if it's PL records I'd go Lloris.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

If I had a choice between the 2 to be the direct Schmeichel replacement I'd take Lloris everyday. A lot of hindsight though.

 

[golden_blunder]

Lloris has been more consistent in the PL

Plus I dreaded watching Barthez play

 

[Scarecrow]

I was very young at the time but I don't remember Barthez being a particularly good GK for us. I was surprised to find out later that a lot of people rate him highly.

I can't recall seeing him play for any other club or France (I definitely did but I have no lasting memories).

 

[Kag]

My overwhelming memory of Barthez is that he was a raging clown. So, Lloris. I’m sure Barthez was actually good at one point, mind you.

 

[lsd]

Barthez was awful at one on ones . Everytime someone broke through with just him to beat you knew it was going to be a goal.

Let's face it when Roy Carroll gets picked over you then you are not very good at your job

 

[Acole9]

I loved Barthez, they don't make eccentric goalkeepers anymore.

He had the better career too. In terms of ability though I'm going to say Lloris.

 

[P-Ro]

When I was 10 I thought Barthez looked a lot like a mime artist. Not really relevant to the discussion in hand mind.

 

[Grande]

Barthez was very good for Marseille and France, not one of the best, but good enough to win the top tournaments. He had two strong qualities that made Fergie opt for him as a Big Pete replacement: he had extreme confidence, and was a brilliant first attacker. Our counter play under i.e. Bosnich was severely impeded in comparison with under Schmeichel, and it was a big thing for Fergie. Barthez had the mindset, tje vision, ball controll and audacity to see attacking options quickly, and for a while it looked a match made in heaven. But he wasn’t Schmeichel on the line, and not close in the box control and one-on-ones. He’d try the same aggressive things, but where Schmeichel always managed to end up with the ball, Barthez often ended up with a gloomy frown. He wasn’t bad, though. But after a year, the blunders increased, probably to do with both his own motivation and a weakening of the United defence in front of him.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Lloris for me is clearly the better PL goalkeeper. Overall, Barthez has won more accolades but whether it is down to ability or sheer presence in winning sides is tough to say.

Barthez, though, does have a blunder collection for the ages. Can't think of a single goalkeeper who has more of these comical highlights. Plus, Barthez being significantly shorter made some relatively routine saves look more spectacular. I can think of the Liverpool save in particular as one which earned him a lot of plaudits but would be bread and butter for De Gea.

If I ever to pick one, it would be definitely Lloris.

 

[kopviolator]

It's hard to say. I used to admire Barthez in his heyday when playing for France but at the time he was playing in the french league so I only occasionally saw him with Monaco in the CL. I thought he was an outstanding keeper at that time but after he came to United and I watched him every game I found him underwhelming.

Loris has had a more stable period in the PL but I never thought as highly of him as I did Barthez before he joined us.

Got to love Barthez the entertainer though...

 

[Sandikan]

Barthez for me. Was never commanding but an excellent shot-stopper. Both could suffer from moments of utter madness.

That first goal, unless he's shouted to Wes Brown, surely that's more on Brown, as he simply could have just punted it away rather than leaving it alone in his own goalmouth!

 

[lsd]

That first goal, unless he's shouted to Wes Brown, surely that's more on Brown, as he simply could have just punted it away rather than leaving it alone in his own goalmouth!

He literally charged into Brown and knocked him off the ball , He made Brown a nervous wreck

 

[RooneyLegend]

Barthez was garbage, Lloris any day of the week.

 

[NinjaZombie]

Barthez was garbage, Lloris any day of the week.

Agreed.

 

[paulscholes18]

Barthez was garbage, Lloris any day of the week.

Barthez was far from garbage, don’t win 2 PL in 3 years if your keeper is garbage also was in the team of the year in his 1st season if I’m not mistaken something that Lloris has never done. Barthez problem was he wasn’t Peter schmicheal, wouldn’t say Barthez was any worse than post World Cup DDG

 

[JPRouve]

Barthez was far from garbage, don’t win 2 PL in 3 years if your keeper is garbage also was in the team of the year in his 1st season if I’m not mistaken something that Lloris has never done. Barthez problem was he wasn’t Peter schmicheal, wouldn’t say Barthez was any worse than post World Cup DDG

Barthez was a bit reckless and not really suited to the late 90s-early 2000s PL who was still very british. But he was a great shotstopper, had good feet and anticipation. Lloris is a more conventional goalkeeper and his brainfarts are in my opinion less excusable because he doesn't give you the extras that Barthez did.

I like neither of them but Barthez has had the better career and has played at a higher level during his 20s, he fell off a cliff in his 30s though.

 

[horsechoker]

Lloris made a massive howler in the world Cup final, I think he was lucky in that France were superb so people forgot about it and it was inconsequential

 

[TheReligion]

I'm quite surprised how everyone seems to be raving about Lloris. I think he's been error prone for the past couple of years to be honest and is someone Spurs need to look at replacing.

Anyway. Looking at both it makes you really appreciate the current situation United have with De Gea, Romero and Henderson on the books.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Barthez was far from garbage, don’t win 2 PL in 3 years if your keeper is garbage also was in the team of the year in his 1st season if I’m not mistaken something that Lloris has never done. Barthez problem was he wasn’t Peter schmicheal, wouldn’t say Barthez was any worse than post World Cup DDG

Nah, sorry, Barthez was a disaster. Well strangely enough you do provided the rest of the team is good enough. The man was a mistake waiting to happen all the time. It's not that he wasn't big Pete, he wasn't even midtable quality.